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Defending the Soviet space budget
Monitor
Defending the Soviet space budget In 1988 1343 million roubles from the state budget were spent in the USSR on space research, according to Boris Chertok, a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Speaking at a recent meeting of the academy he said that income from satellite c o m m u n i c a t i o n s services, weather forecasting, the exploration of terrestrial natural resources, satellite navigation systems, and the transfer of technology to the national economy amounted to about R2000 million in 1988. Demands to slash expenditure on space research and to use the funds thus released for solving food, housing and other urgent problems have been put forward in the Soviet press recently and featured in the election programmes of many candidates for the posts of People's Deputies. In this connection Chertok emphasized that such pronouncements were prompted by lack of public information about the development of cosmonautics and the possibilities for using its achievements in the national economy.
'Close interrelationships developed between academic science, institutions of higher learning and governmental agencies way back in the first years of the space era in the Soviet Union. Thanks to that a successful development of cosmonautics became possible', Chertok said. 'Space research performed the role of "locomotive" blazing the way for other sectors. Were it not for cosmonautics, our lag in such fields as computing engineering would have been much greater than now.' Chertok said that one may well argue about prospects for the use of the Energia-Buran space transportation system but one should not forget its benefits for the national economy. Specifically, the system of landing on radio signals and cryogenic technology will be used in civil aviation while multiple-duplication safety systems will be applied in nuclear power engineering. Computer technology has also been advanced. Source: Novosti, 3 Rosary Gardens,
London SW7 4NW, UK.
NASA selects Small Explorer missions Dr Lennard A. Fisk, associate administrator for N A S A ' s Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA), announced in April 1989 the selection of the first Small Explorer missions, which will study some of the most important questions in space physics, astrophysics and upper atmosphere science. The Small Explorer Program, a vital element of the OSSA strategic plan, provides frequent flight opportunities for highly focused and relatively inexpensive space science missions. These missions allow critical training opportunities for the next generation of scientists and engineers. The Small Explorer spacecraft weigh approximately 400 lb and can be launched
SPACE POLICY August 1989
from available Scot-class expendable launch vehicles. The selected studies, chosen from 51 submissions, propose the following: • A study of solar energetic particles, anomalous cosmic rays, galactic cosmic rays and magnetospheric electrons to be launched in mid1992. • A study of how molecular clouds collapse to form stars and planetary systems, called the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, to be launched in mid-1993. • An investigation of the processes operating within the auroral region, called Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer, to be launched in late 1993.
•
A study of stratospheric ozone, to be the mission of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). It will provide daily mapping of global ozone and detect global ozone trends.
The Small Explorer Program is managed by the GSFC Special Payloads Division. Costs for developing such spacecraft and instrument payloads are expected to average $30 million. The Explorer Program is a longstanding N A S A programme for launching small and moderate-sized space science mission payloads. Over 75 US and cooperative-international scientific space missions have been part of the Explorer Program. For example, the International Ultraviolet Explorer, which produced astronomical data for more than 1400 articles in scientific journals, continues to operate after more than 10 years in Earth orbit. N A S A News, Washington, DC 20546, USA.
Source:
U K space committee formed A new parliamentary committee is to be established to act as a forum of discussion for parliamentarians and industrialists in order to promote a better understanding of space activity in the UK and the economic, technological and scientific benefits which it brings. The committee, to be known as the Parliamentary Space Committee is to be formed to include Members of Parliament who belong to the All Party Space Committee, and member companies of the United Kingdom Industrial Space Committee (UKISC) and British Association of Remote Sensing companies (BARSC). The All-Party Space Committee was formed in the late 1970s to bring together members in both Houses of Parliament with a direct interest in space. The Chairman since 1982 is Michael Marshall, MP, (Conservative) who was Minister with space
263
Defending the Soviet space budget In 1988 1343 million roubles from the state budget were spent in the USSR on space research, according to Boris Chertok, a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Speaking at a recent meeting of the academy he said that income from satellite c o m m u n i c a t i o n s services, weather forecasting, the exploration of terrestrial natural resources, satellite navigation systems, and the transfer of technology to the national economy amounted to about R2000 million in 1988. Demands to slash expenditure on space research and to use the funds thus released for solving food, housing and other urgent problems have been put forward in the Soviet press recently and featured in the election programmes of many candidates for the posts of People's Deputies. In this connection Chertok emphasized that such pronouncements were prompted by lack of public information about the development of cosmonautics and the possibilities for using its achievements in the national economy.
'Close interrelationships developed between academic science, institutions of higher learning and governmental agencies way back in the first years of the space era in the Soviet Union. Thanks to that a successful development of cosmonautics became possible', Chertok said. 'Space research performed the role of "locomotive" blazing the way for other sectors. Were it not for cosmonautics, our lag in such fields as computing engineering would have been much greater than now.' Chertok said that one may well argue about prospects for the use of the Energia-Buran space transportation system but one should not forget its benefits for the national economy. Specifically, the system of landing on radio signals and cryogenic technology will be used in civil aviation while multiple-duplication safety systems will be applied in nuclear power engineering. Computer technology has also been advanced. Source: Novosti, 3 Rosary Gardens,
London SW7 4NW, UK.
NASA selects Small Explorer missions Dr Lennard A. Fisk, associate administrator for N A S A ' s Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA), announced in April 1989 the selection of the first Small Explorer missions, which will study some of the most important questions in space physics, astrophysics and upper atmosphere science. The Small Explorer Program, a vital element of the OSSA strategic plan, provides frequent flight opportunities for highly focused and relatively inexpensive space science missions. These missions allow critical training opportunities for the next generation of scientists and engineers. The Small Explorer spacecraft weigh approximately 400 lb and can be launched
SPACE POLICY August 1989
from available Scot-class expendable launch vehicles. The selected studies, chosen from 51 submissions, propose the following: • A study of solar energetic particles, anomalous cosmic rays, galactic cosmic rays and magnetospheric electrons to be launched in mid1992. • A study of how molecular clouds collapse to form stars and planetary systems, called the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, to be launched in mid-1993. • An investigation of the processes operating within the auroral region, called Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer, to be launched in late 1993.
•
A study of stratospheric ozone, to be the mission of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). It will provide daily mapping of global ozone and detect global ozone trends.
The Small Explorer Program is managed by the GSFC Special Payloads Division. Costs for developing such spacecraft and instrument payloads are expected to average $30 million. The Explorer Program is a longstanding N A S A programme for launching small and moderate-sized space science mission payloads. Over 75 US and cooperative-international scientific space missions have been part of the Explorer Program. For example, the International Ultraviolet Explorer, which produced astronomical data for more than 1400 articles in scientific journals, continues to operate after more than 10 years in Earth orbit. N A S A News, Washington, DC 20546, USA.
Source:
U K space committee formed A new parliamentary committee is to be established to act as a forum of discussion for parliamentarians and industrialists in order to promote a better understanding of space activity in the UK and the economic, technological and scientific benefits which it brings. The committee, to be known as the Parliamentary Space Committee is to be formed to include Members of Parliament who belong to the All Party Space Committee, and member companies of the United Kingdom Industrial Space Committee (UKISC) and British Association of Remote Sensing companies (BARSC). The All-Party Space Committee was formed in the late 1970s to bring together members in both Houses of Parliament with a direct interest in space. The Chairman since 1982 is Michael Marshall, MP, (Conservative) who was Minister with space
263